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If Tortorella was the Habs coach the postgame interview would sound something like this: !#$%?&*(@!@$#?!!!
Translated into French: !#$%?&*(@!@$#?!!!
With the obligatory beeps after each expletive.
Voilà! A perfect translation. Easily understood in any language.
Even Swahili.

I think a lot of people are living in the past, but then again how could you not, it’s Montreal, the center of the hockey world. I hope they draft smart and not have a repeat of the 03 draft where the Habs picked Andrei Kostitsyn over guys like Richards; Carter, Brown, Parise, Kesler, Getzlaf and Perry. I really like Matthew Dumba but seeing as how we might get a pick in the top 3 Grigorenko or Forsberg would be nice additions, but then again not everyone can play in Montreal. They have a good crop of young guys coming up Gallagher, Beaulieu, Tinordi, Leblanc, Eller, Bournival, Kristo. The Habs have a bunch of Picks that they’ll be able to use, I hope Gomez gets sent to Hamilton and stays there or we can trade him for a bag of pucks either or. I know people hate waiting for their teams to become powerhouses or even competitive, I live in Toronto… I can care less about the Leafs but I’ve been wait for my Jays to make playoffs since forever. People do have to be some what patient because it can always be worse you could be Leafs fans, haven’t had a cup in 50 years, haven’t made playoffs in 10 years and have no draft picks. Head up Hab fans! GO HABS GO

I’m going to put this on the table. Our first round pick plus PK to CBJ for Nash… I look at how first round picks turn out in Montreal and It’s time for this team to have a superstar again and in turn having a player like Nash next year we can make a splash picking up and big centre in the UFA market 2013. I’m not sold on anyone in this coming draft becoming a all star not in Montreal and don’t want to wait 3-4 years for a maybe. Nash is out there we have the candy now let’s make a deal for him.

Storm, I think you can take it off the table. Columbus just picked up Jack Johnson so they’ve got their quarterback, and if Nash is traded, it will have to be for an elite goalie, like Schneider or Bernier. Nash did not include Montreal on his list of teams he’d accept a trade for, and I am far from jumping off the Subban bandwagon. Sadly, what’s wrong with the Habs will take a lot more than a Rick Nash to fix, and a lot longer than next year.
Fun to dream, though.

Funny as the reason the Rags did not get Nash is CBJ wanted a number 1 Dman… And the fact CBJ could have PK and the top 2 picks in this years draft not much to dream about that. Can you post that list of teams Nash has on here please…. Not the one the prss says his thanks. And getting Nash a all star player would start the ball rolling faster than waiting 3-4 years for a maybe in this years draft.

Yakupov and Grigorenko know very well what the very rigid NHL salary structure is for draft picks, and both have expressed a strong desire to play in the NHL, coming over to North America to signify that interest and assure teams that they are serious. I can’t foresee any contract issues for at least the first 3 years, so talk of either guy running off to the KHL is pretty much just talk. Grigorenko or Yakupov could both be playing in the KHL right now for big money contracts if that was really their desire. I believe the minimum age in the KHL is 17 years old, probably using the old WHA model of trying to entice top talents who might want to make some money a year early. It worked for the WHA in getting Gretzky and Messier! 😉

Now there is always a chance that they could use the KHL as leverage as RFA’s, but that is down the road and most teams don’t want to antagonize their stars. Montreal certainly would not be in any difficulty when it comes to paying out a big salary to a star player if necessary, so I really don’t see a Radulov-esque situation even if we do draft a Russian player.

For those that care…

The maximum salary a drafted player can earn is $925k and the standard entry-level deal is 3 years.

For highly ranked draft picks, there is up to $2.85 M more that they can earn from their team via performance bonus money, but those bonuses are laid out by the NHL. For example, here is how it works for forwards:

Schedule A (maximum $850k total per year) Performance Bonuses

1. Top-6 in forward ice time aggregate
2. Top-6 in forward ice time per game (minimum 42 GP)
3. Goal target set by team (minimum 20 goals)
4. Assist target set by team (minimum 35 assists)
5. Point target set by team (minimum 60 points)
6. Points per game target set by team (minimum .73 PPG, minimum 42 GP)
7. Plus-Minus rating: Among top three forwards (minimum 42 GP)
8. End of season NHL All-Rookie Team
9. NHL All-Star Game (selected to play or plays)
10. NHL All-Star Game MVP

Schedule “B” Performance Bonuses (Maximum $2.0 M per season):

1. Finish in top 5 of voting for one of Hart, Richard, Vezina, Jennings, Norris, Conn Smythe or Selke Trophies (amount determined by agreement between team and player)

In addition to the money players can get from the club, there are also league bonuses handed out for all the above awards plus the Lady Byng and Calder Trophies as well as for spots on the season-end 1st or 2nd All-Star teams.

Good info. Agree about the Yak/Grig analysis. If they wanted to be making $2M in the KHL they already would be. If after three years the use that card to get a better RFA deal it becomes a pretty simple decision for a team. It is not exactly like there are not a ton of North American born RFAs who have not even been arbitration eligible yet who are signed to long term deals paying way more than you “have” to pay them.

The whole team has changed drastically and many players are not established or even near veteran status. No wonder the Habs are doing so poorly with all the lineup confusion. The team is completely different from last year’s team.

Five thoughts on Tomas Kaberle/Craperle/Kaberless
– A cast off of both the Leafs and Bruins.
– A severe defensive Liability with many different weaknesses that include net presence, strength, board play, POSITIONING, de awareness and clearly a lasck of intensity/passion.
– The PP was suuposed to be his one strength yet our ranking and percentage has dropped since his arrival. Reasons for his poor contribution include:
– His unwillingness to shoot which limits PK’s lanes
– HIs pinching at the back side is slow and predictable
– His unability to produce good shoot ins
– His passes although on target are delayed
– His larger salary and unwanted term have no only created an issue moving forward with our cap but has also makes the quick retooling goal of the habs that much harder to accomplish.
– Most of his points on the team thsi season have been secondary assist which has just been a result of being on the ice with mroe offensive players at more offensive periods of the game. HE has been responsible for just about as many SH goals against as PP goals for.

Interesting analysis from Michel Bergeron last night about the length of Tomas Kaberle’s hockey stick, or lack thereof. A shorter hockey stick promotes puck handling and a quick shot, but a longer one is better for defensive hockey as it increases your reach. Most players will modify an inch or two max in each direction to suit their tastes, but Mr. Kaberle has a significantly shorter stick than usual. The stick is usually meant, when held straight up in front of a player with skates on, to reach between the chin and the nose, but Mr. Kaberle’s stick is well short of his chin.

Michel Bergeron explained yesterday that not only does it handicap him when he’s playing defence, but it also causes him to stoop over when he carries the puck, which brings his head down and doesn’t allow him to see up-ice as easily as if he had a normal-length stick. This might explain the bungling with the puck and the passes to nowhere or icings he causes, especially from a veteran putative puck-carrying quarterback d-man.

im looking forward to the draft, i dont agree with the ITALIAN guy on tsn990 often ( mainly because he’s a big salami in person, or so im told), but offering our 2nd overall pick to florida for Huberdeau is quite an idea. hes big, tough, a centre with scoring up side, french and has the potential super star tag on his head. he can be a very effective pick up and build for the future, he could play the whole year in hamilton on the first pair and light it up and beef up and then make him you number 1 centre the year after…